Shanghai Pudong Airport Stabbing, Only A “Laowai” Helped

23-year-old Wang X who had been studying abroad in Japan for 5 years arrived at the arrival terminal of Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport on the night of April 1st and stabbed Gu X, his mother who had come to pick him up, consecutively 9 times, causing her to lose consciousness on the spot. Afterward, Wang X was arrested by police on criminal charges and it wasn’t until the 8th that Gu X was transferred from the intensive care unit to the general ward. As for the reason for the violence, Wang X says his mother had indicated that she would not give him money, “[she said] something like if I continued to ask for money, there would only be one result, and all of a sudden my mind went blank and I charged up to her and stabbed her”. However, Gu X denies that they had quarreled over tuition.

After the case of a Chinese student who had been studying overseas in Japan stabbing his mother was revealed by the media, it aroused a very large reaction in society. Yesterday, a netizen provided the Shanghai Morning Post a video filmed of the incident. In the recording, the assailant had already left, leaving only the mother lying on the ground and a laowai giving her medical assistance.

At this time, Shanghai police yesterday also confirmed that legal procedures for evaluating the psychological condition of the study abroad in Japan student Wang X who had stabbed his mother consecutively 9 times had formally begun.

Here is the video, uploaded 7 hours ago on Ku6, where it has accumulated over 370k views so far, and seems to be the copy that is spread on Sina Weibo:

Actually, it isn’t that everyone doesn’t want to help, it’s that the experience of Nanjing Peng Yu is still very clear in everyone’s minds, this is China!

[Note: Nanjing Peng Yu refers to a 2006 case in Nanjing. On the morning of November 20th, 65-year-old woman Xu Shoulan had fallen and injured herself at a bus stop. A man, Peng Yu, helped her up and then, after her requests, took her to the hospital. The old woman then blamed him and claimed that he had run into her. Peng Yu resolutely denied this. The old woman sued him. After four trials, a Nanjing judge ruled that since he admitted to being the first person to get off the bus, and in accordance with common sense, there was a greater probability that he had run into the old woman, and so he was ordered to compensate her over 45,000 RMB. This was a very famous case, often to explain why many people are reluctant to help others. See also: Bystanders Only Help After Old Man Says He Fell By Himself]

腾讯上海市网友:

Ordinary passengers may lack first aid knowledge, so what were all the airport workers doing? They should’ve been trained on how to deal with emergencies, right (including first aid measures)? Why was it that only laowai who offered help, where were airport workers? And an international airport too…

腾讯网友:

I’ve seen something similar in Shanghai before, where an old lady suddenly had a heart attack and collapsed and a girl who claimed to be a nurse only said what should be done but would not go forward [and help herself]. A laowai broke through the crowd and said he was a doctor, and then diligently administered aid to the old lady, until 120 [paramedics, ambulance] arrived.

橘子:

This laowai is so adorable…may good people have a life of peace and safety.

腾讯上海市网友:

There are simply two points to crowds of onlookers: 1. If it doesn’t affect oneself, don’t get involved. Helping others may result create more problems for oneself. 2. Poor ability to deal with emergencies, no systematic training on how to provide medical assistance, not knowing how to provide medical assistance. Laowai‘s efficiency and way of thinking towards emergencies is not as complicated as we Chinese think, it’s very simply, just rescue/save them first

腾讯上海市网友:

Hehe, laowai may spend an entire life and never figure out this country’s issues, when our own people can’t figure it out either.

腾讯上海市网友:

If you don’t do a good job saving them, it becomes you who killed them.

腾讯网友:

It isn’t that people don’t want to help/rescue/save, but that they don’t dare to, not wanting to be bitten [blamed] in return for helping. This is just how Chinese people are. If you save them well, they’ll thank you, but if something goes wrong, they might just bite you in return.

腾讯上海市网友:

Even a weapon like a knife can be brought into an airport? Truly speechless.

腾讯肇庆市网友:

Nanjing Peng Yu’s experience is still very vivid in people’s minds.

腾讯广西网友:

Chinese people are already becoming increasingly hopeless, so sad, such a pity, so lamentable!

腾讯网友:

See, this is what Chinese people are like, a country that claims 5000 years of civilization, is that pride or irony? I feel that saying this is very shameful.

腾讯锦州市网友:

Sometimes foreigners are indeed much better than us in this regard! When my wife and I were vacationing in Beijing, there was a foreign friend who volunteered to help take a picture of us, we were truly very touched.Honestly, it isn’t that our people don’t have character, it is because we have been “hurt” too many times, and that’s why we don’t rush forward to help others!

腾讯沈阳市网友:

Deeply indifferent countrymen express their feelings of shame, salute those laowai [who are deserving of respect/admiration]!

杀猪的:

What others have said is the truth. I used to be very willing of helping others, but after seeing that Nanjing 2B old lady and 2B judge, I have to think twice now before doing good deeds.

腾讯大连市网友:

Whoever does good deeds is whoever is a SB. Though I often do good deeds, I always go home and curse myself as having been a SB.

腾讯上海市网友:

Don’t all blame this or that, first ask yourself, if it were you, would you have done something to help rescue? If you would, then you can blame others.

腾讯网友:

Chinese people’s character is too low, only see money not people. If it were money spilled all over the ground, then people wouldn’t just be standing around looking on, they’d be scrambling to loot it. Today’s society doesn’t have a shred of human kindness, only power and interest. Sigh, our ordinary common people also want to help but can’t [don’t have the ability, aren’t in a position to, are afraid to].

腾讯中山市网友:

I can only say, to our government, stop only pursuing economic growth, because when the people are no longer people, what’s the use of money?

Fauna is a mysterious young Shanghainese girl who lives in the only place a Shanghainese person would ever want to live: Shanghai. In mid-2008, she started chinaSMACK to combine her hobby of browsing Chinese internet forums with her goal of improving her English. Through her tireless translation of popular Chinese internet news and phenomenon, her English has apparently gotten dramatically better. At least, reading and writing-wise. Unfortunately, she's still not confident enough to have written this bio, about herself, by herself.

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